Barrel Makers!

[Acer Saccharum]

Green River, perhaps?

Thanks for reply, Ez. I'll put him on my list of suppliers.

[rich pierce]

Green River Rife Works was in Utah.  Kalispell was where Sharon barrels were onc't and another maker whom I've disremembered.

[Ezra]

I think Mr. Carpenter said something like the guy he bought the business from had made a bunch of barrels for Thompson Center.  I think.


Ez

[bob in the woods]

Wasn't " Orion" barrels out in Montana ?

[bob in the woods]

Wasn't " Orion" barrels out in Montana ?

[rich pierce]

Ez, that would be Hall Sharon who made some barrels for TC early on.  Bob, Orion is/was out of Montana; you're right.

[Ezra]

OK guys, I left off one of our better barrel makers from my favorites list.  That would be Charlie Burton.  I recently received two very fine barrels from him.  I sold one, but only because I have had a change in priorities (focusing on pistols, not rifles).  Here is Charlies website:

http://fcibarrels.tripod.com/


I highly recommend his barrels.  

Regards,


Ez

[Dphariss]

If you want the BEST barrel you need to talk to Jim McLemore. I have a McLemore barrel that has won about 200 bucks in the 3 matches its been used in. If he does not make the best ML barrel I would like to know who does better. His use of 4150 GB quality is important to me as well and should be to everyone. He also uses relatively shallow grooves which is a plus. That shallow groove work has been known for about 200 years at least. With 4150 wear is not a consideration.
http://www.sleepyhillbarrels.com/Products.html
The internal finish on Jim's barrels is superb and the uniformity of the dimension is excellent. Between me and two friends we have 7 of these in 45 and 50 caliber and they are ALL very superior barrels. Though my 50 is the only one built into a rifle to date. It shoots so well that I only shoot it now and then in matches. These really are premium barrels.

Green Mountain barrels are excellent, priced toward the lower end of the spectrum and are made by a company that makes barrels for brass suppository guns as well so they make a LOT of barrels. To the point that ML barrels are a side line, they are made of a high quality steel of a reliable alloy, 1137 and shoot extremely well. The also load easily with a tight fit or hardened lead. Some of the early barrels had problems with EXTERIOR finish but the interiors are always good. Grooves are not too deep so they seal well.
Tip Curtis usually has a good supply of GM barrels. I think they were tied up with Gov't work for a time and this would prevent them from making 1137 barrels. I don't know if this is still the case. 
TOW has GM as well but the supply has been sporadic.
When I can get barrels from Jim or GM I don't need any others.
I have seen a GM 45 caliber barrel shoot a sub 3.5 inch 10 shot string at 60 yards. This is an average deviation of less then .35" from center. Load easy, shoot great GB grade steel.
There are others that use better quality steel as well, I think Long Hammock is one.

Dan

[Ezra]

Are Jim McLemores barrels specifically for bench shooting and presumably chunk type guns only or does he do swamped etc...?  I see he does tapered but his barrels seemed geared for target type shooting unless I'm missing something.

Ez

[mark esterly]

It shoots so well that I only shoot it now and then in matches.

Dan

i don't understand that statement. would you not want to shoot as good as possible ALL THE TIME

[Hungry Horse]

I think that a lot of the Montana outfits you guy are referring to are in essence one and the same. I am pretty sure that Orion, and Montana Rifle Works, are one in the same, just different owners. They may have originally been made by Les Bauska. All these barrels were pretty good quality. Even the smaller calibers that were button rifled were tack drivers. I own two Montana's and an Orion.

                           Hungry Horse

[Eric Kettenburg]

Those Orion barrels were pretty darn good - I had a couple of those back in the early 1990s.   

The most accurate barrels I ever used EVER were 3 no-name barrels I bought from DGW that were made in Japan.  I STILL, now 20 years later, get comments from the guys who have those guns about how unbelievably accurate they are.  I suspect they were flukes.  They were only available in .50, 42" long and straight 7/8 octagonal.

I should mention I had Bob Hoyt make me some really long (50" and 52 or 53") rifled swamped barrels that were spectacular.

Ed Rayl uses that kryptonite certified gun barrel steel.  A real pain in the butt to work, but his barrels are absolutely excellent accuracy and he has done some really long (length) oddball stuff for me in years past.

Currently, did I mention Rice?

[Ian Pratt]

  Ed makes good stuff, can do about anything you'd need.  A couple years back he switched over to 8620 steel and no longer uses the concrete / kryptonite alloy. Both Superman and your favorite draw file can rest a little easier tonight. I'm sure we all remember the dark nights in the shop, forearms painfully swollen, fists clenched in permanent carpal tunnel agony, hunched over the work bench ankle deep in slick, smoking hot mill files.... just kidding of course, but the 8620 is much nicer to work with.   
  I have only used a handful of Bobby Hoyt's barrels but liked them too, good looking, good shooting barrels.  If I remember right he's making me a long slim smoothbore barrel. At least I hope he is. I hope somebody is. Guess I better check.   
   

[Dphariss]

Are Jim McLemores barrels specifically for bench shooting and presumably chunk type guns only or does he do swamped etc...?  I see he does tapered but his barrels seemed geared for target type shooting unless I'm missing something.

Ez

He does a lot of competition barrels true and for good reason, but I understand he will do swamps but needs enough orders to justify the set up.
  
Dan

[Dphariss]

It shoots so well that I only shoot it now and then in matches.

Dan

i don't understand that statement. would you not want to shoot as good as possible ALL THE TIME

Horace Warner made a slug gun for a grudge match with Perry (?). I think it was the 69 caliber.
He won the match. But never really used to gun much since nobody would shoot against it.
Winning is not everything and becomes pointless if only 2-3 shooters  show up.

Dan

[JohnTyg]

Saw the earlier common on the Orion barrels.

"They were only available in .50, 42" long and straight 7/8 octagonal."

Years ago when I was thinking about building my second gun (still working on it if you followed the posts on the cracked butt plate) I ordered several barrels, Green Mountain, Getz (I ruined it, enough said), and one from Orion. Did so because the price was very reasonable, but also because they  offered a tapered barrel.  Was thinking at the time that this would be easier than than a swamped to inlet. These were eventually put aside awaiting my present 10 year project and I ended up using a Rice. The big difference that I noted between the pre-breeched barrels (obviously haven't shot any yet) was that the Getz was the best breeched. The Green Mountains were not fully bottom taped but the Orion had a really nice full bottom tap and this made breeching it really easy. (pic).  Ultimately used the Rice and as a side project (at a time when I was feeling really compulsive) "had fun" draw filling a swamped profile into the Orion tape. Maybe a later project.

John Tyg

[Randy Hedden]

The most accurate barrels I ever used EVER were 3 no-name barrels I bought from DGW that were made in Japan.  I STILL, now 20 years later, get comments from the guys who have those guns about how unbelievably accurate they are.  I suspect they were flukes.  They were only available in .50, 42" long and straight 7/8 octagonal.

Eric,

Those barrels were probably left over from Dixie's Tennessee Mountain Rifle.  The first 9 months production or so of the Tennessee Mountain Rifles had barrels in the configuration you mention and then because of safety concerns they started to mount 15/16" straight barrels in their Tennessee mountain Rifles.  Sometime later Dixie sold off all the 7/8" barrels that were left over when the switch to the 15/16" barrels began.

I have one of the rifles from that first nine months production and it has always been very accurate even though the barrel was produced in Japan.

Randy Hedden

[Bernard]

I have several Getz barrels. All shoot well some specialties are. Two 48 inch and two brass a 44 and 40 inch both 54CAL. One of my 48" 50 Cal was custom profiled for me. The Brass Barrels were also special orders. The 40" unreamed and unrifled. I finished it by reaming it to .538 at the breech end to .532 at the muzzle then rifled it with a left hand buttress rifling 10 grooves running a gain twist 1:77 to 1:18. Shoots great. Thanks for the help John. Others I talked with about these projects were not interested in working with me.   

[Hungry Horse]

I have a .50 Cal. flinter built with a Montana 15/16" X38"barrel. It took a lot of range time, and patch, ball, experiments, but now she shoots better than I do.
  A barrel that shocked the snot out of me was one of those Dixie conversion barrels for a trapdoor Springfield. A friend passed away, and I was asked to find homes for his eclectic collection of muzzleloaders. One of the guns he had, was without a doubt the ugliest custom gun ever built. It was a half stock built on one of Dixie's Civil War rifle birch replacement stocks. The hardware was all hand made from I think Spam cans. The nose cap was cast from bearing babbit and weighed about two pounds. The stock was acid stained the greenest green I've ever seen on a stock. Its only redeeming features were the barrel had great rifling in it, and it had a Siler percussion lock. I thought I would never be able to sell it, but a father, and son, came by one day, and son of a gun if the dad didn't fall in love with this monstrosity. I sold it cheap and a couple of days later they wanted a shooting lesson at the range. I had never shot this gun before and was astounded at how well it shot. I checked the twist in the .45 Cal. barrel and found it to be 1 in 56". I read an article several years later by Ed Rayl that mentioned that 1in 56" was the optimum twist for a forty five.

                        Hungry Horse

[dannybb55]

What about Ben Coogle?  Anyone use his barrels?


Ez

I sent a message t Ben a couple of days ago for a 55 3/4 in .55 cal barrel with a 1 1/4 inch breech in 8 to round and he is locating the steel for it for a mid 17th century trade gun. He also makes big barrels up to 6 feet and 100 cal. There is another barrel I am drawing up for Charlie Burton for a light arquebus 42 inches long, 65 calibre, 1 3/8 breech to 1 1/8 inch at the muzzle swamped octagon. I would consider these custom jobs as soon as my wife let's me into the cookie jar money Charlie.
             Danny